INTRODUCTION - AND HOW
TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK

I'm
Barry, and I'm a ukulele player. Well, actually, I am not just a
player. In fact, I have found myself rather obsessed by the ukulele.
You see, the little instrument can do that to you, it kind of gets
under your skin. Before you know it, it has taken hold and you are
stuck. It's fun though!

I actually started out in music as a
guitar player and have been playing one of those for over twenty
years, until a few years ago I was re-watching a documentary about a
hero of mine, George Harrison. George liked the uke. In fact, that
is an understatement, George LOVED the uke. In fact many of his
friends are on record pointing out that he actually put the uke
higher than the guitar in his affections. He would always travel
with two or more ukuleles, so that if he was playing with friends, he
could also pass one to somebody else to join in. I love that story.
George had the ukulele bug bad, just like me. In fact, most people I
meet who have started playing the ukulele have the same bug...

When
I first bought a ukulele, totally contrary to all of my knowledge and
good practice with guitars, I assumed the uke was a toy instrument,
that it wasn't very serious. I therefore spent as little money as I
could get away with in the hope of having some fun. How wrong I was.
You see it turns out that the world is flooded with cheap ukuleles
that frankly, don't play very well. Nor is the ukulele a toy or
anything that shouldn't be taken seriously. It's an instrument and
it needs the same thought and attention that any other instrument
receives. This frustrated me, but I carried on, and bought a
slightly better ukulele.